The Woman Caught in Adultery

8 ¹Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.* ²Early in the morning Jesus went back to the temple* area. All the people came to Jesus. Jesus sat and taught the people. ³The teachers of the law and the Pharisees* brought a woman there. The woman had been caught doing the sin of adultery.* These Jews forced the woman to stand before the people. ⁴They said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught having sex with a man that is not her husband. ⁵The law of Moses commands that we kill with rocks every woman that does this. What do you say we should do?" ⁶The Jews were using this question to trick Jesus. They wanted to catch Jesus saying something wrong. Then they could have a charge against him. But Jesus kneeled down and started writing on the ground with his finger. ⁷The Jewish leaders continued to ask Jesus their question. So Jesus stood up and said, "Is there any person here that has never sinned? That person without sin can throw the first rock at this woman." ⁸Then Jesus knelt down again and wrote on the ground. ⁹The people that heard Jesus began to leave one by one. The older men left first, and then the others. Jesus was left there alone with the woman. She was standing before him. ¹⁰Jesus looked up again and asked her, "Woman, all of those people are gone. None of them judged you guilty?" ¹¹The woman answered, "None of them judged me, sir." Then Jesus said, "So I also don't judge you. You can go now, but don't sin again."

Jesus Is the Light of the World

¹²Later, Jesus talked to the people again. Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. The person that follows me will never live in darkness. That person will have the light that gives life." ¹³But the Pharisees* said to Jesus, "When you talk about yourself, you are the only one to say that these things are true. So we cannot accept these things you say." ¹⁴Jesus answered, "Yes, I am saying these things about myself. But people can believe these things I say. Why? Because I know where I came from. And I know where I am going. [I am not like you people]. You don't know where I came from or where I am going. ¹⁵You judge me the way you would judge any man. I don't judge any person. ¹⁶But if I judge, my judging is true. Why? Because when I judge I am not alone. The Father who sent me is with me. ¹⁷Your own law says that when two witnesses say the same thing, then you must accept what they say. ¹⁸I am one of the witnesses that speaks about myself. And the Father who sent me is my other witness." ¹⁹The people asked, "Where is your father?" Jesus answered, "You don't know me or my Father. But if you knew me, then you would know my Father too." ²⁰Jesus said these things while he was teaching in the temple* area. He was near the place where all the people came to give money. But no person arrested him. The right time for Jesus had not yet come.

Mount of Olives A hill east of the city of Jerusalem where a person could look down into the temple area. temple The special building in Jerusalem for Jewish worship. Pharisees The Pharisees were a Jewish religious group that claimed to follow carefully all Jewish laws and customs. adultery Breaking a marriage promise by sexual sin.